Failing Health Care Co-ops Will Cost Taxpayers

Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Programs (COOPs) were really a political compromise between Members of Congress who wanted a public plan option and those who didn’t. Once the Affordable Care Act passed, COOPs had outlived their usefulness. However, they are now failing and will cost taxpayers plenty. Senior Fellow Devon Herrick testified before a congressional committee.

A Different Approach to Low-Income Subsidies

The approach to Medicare reform outlined here is based on the idea that each generation should pay its own way. However, even after mandatory saving over an entire worklife, there will be those who have not saved enough to fund their own post-retirement health insurance. Should the financial shortfall experienced by people be made up by the members of their age cohort? Or should this deficit be viewed as more properly a concern of society as a whole? If the latter, then we may want to keep a residual part of the program to be funded by taxpayers —say, through an assessment roughly the size of the current payroll tax.